Dr Zain Yusufzai What is a Project Chapter # 4(Page )

CHAPTER 4

WHAT IS A PROJECT?

DEFINITION OF A PROJECT
A project is a sequence of unique, complex and connected activities having one goal
or purpose and that must be completed by a specific time, within budget, and
according to specification.

SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES
A project comprises a number of activities that must be completed in some specified
order.

The sequencing is based on technical or best practice requirements, not on

management prerogatives.
 UNIQUE ACTIVITIES

Te project has never happened before and will never happen again under the
same conditions.

 COMPLEX ACTIVITIES

The activities that comprise the project ate relatively complex. That is, they are
not simple, repetitive acts, such as mowing the lawn.

 CONNECTED ACTIVITIES

Connectedness follows the fact that the output from one activity is input to
another.

 ONE GOAL

Project must have a single goal as compared to a program, which can have
many goals.

 SPECIFIED TIME

Projects have a specified completion date. This may be self-implemented by

management or externally specified (as by a customer).
 WIHTIN BUDGET

Project also have resource limits (people, money, machines). While these may
be adjusted up or down by management, they are considered fixed resources by
the project managers.

 ACCORDING TO SPECIFICATION

The customer or recipient of the deliverables from the project expects a certain
level of functionality and quality from the project. These may be self-imposed or
customer-specified, and are fixed as far as the project manager is concerned.

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 Dr Zain Yusufzai What is a Project Chapter # 4(Page )

PROJECT PARAMETERS

Scope, cost, time and resources define a system of four constraints that operate on
every project. They are an interdependent set in the sense that as one changes it may
cause us to change the others so that we can restore equilibrium to the system.
 COST

Throughout the project management life cycle, cost is a major consideration. The first
consideration occurs at an early and informal stage in about equal to what they had in
mind of the project.
 TIME
Time is an interesting resource. It is consumed whether we use it or not. For the
project manager, the objective is to use the time allotted to the project in the most
effective and productive ways possible.

Resources can be equipment, physical facilities, inventory and others. These are
capital assets that have limited availabilities, can be scheduled, or can be leased from
an outside party.

THE SCOPE TRIANGLE: TIME, COSTM RESOURCES

Cost
Time Scope
And
Quality

The Scope Triangle

The scope Triangle offers a number of insights into changes that can occur in the life
of the project.

Not longer after work commences something is sure to change. Perhaps the customer
calls with a requirement to add a feature not envisioned during the planning sessions.

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 Dr Zain Yusufzai What is a Project Chapter # 4(Page )
The project manager controls resource utilization and work schedules. Management
controls cost and resource level. The customer controls scope, quality and delivery
dates.

SCOPE creep

Change is constant. To expect otherwise is simply unrealistic. Changes occur for

several reasons that have nothing to do with the ability or skill of the requestor or the
provider.

Hope Creep

These are team members who manage a hunk of work. They do not want to give you
bad news, so they are prone to tell you that their work is proceeding according to
schedule, when in fact it is not.

Effort Creep

Every one of us has worked on a project that always seems to be only 95 percent
complete no matter how much effort seems to be expanded to complete them. Every
week’s status report records progress but the amount remaining doesn’t seem to
decrease proportionately.

Feature Creep

This is same as scope creep except it is initiated by the provider, not by the customer.
THE PROJECT SCENARIO: PROJECT RISK vs. BUSINESS VALUES

BUSINESS VALUE – RISK LOW

Low High

Low

Risk

High

Business Value High

– Risk Low

Business Value Low – Risk High

Business Value High – Risk High

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Dr Zain Yusufzai What is a Project Chapter # 4(Page )

THE S CURVE

2/3 Time–3/4 Progress

Progress

Time

Standard S Curve

NORMAL CURVE

AGGRESSIVE CURVE

Progress

Time

The Aggressive Curve

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Dr Zain Yusufzai What is a Project Chapter # 4(Page )

THE CURVE TO AVOID

Progress

Time

The Curve to Avoid

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